Birds like buses

A wet morning on the patch this morning didn't produce much; I went actively searching for a Stonechat in various places, and with four at Langford earlier in the week I thought I had a good chance, but no. There were decent numbers of Fieldfare around, at least 300 but it was difficult to be precise as they moved around the area in several flocks. The only waders were single Green Sand and Redshank, and 6 Golden Plover. I finished the morning at Meering, were there was little of note.

After a frustrating hockey match (awful does not even begin to describe the quality of the umpiring...), I headed back to Collingham to do the gull roost, and was very pleased that the first bird I saw at Ferry Lane Lake was a Stonechat - success! My first Patchwork Challenge addition since 13 September, and my first patch Stonechat since 31 January 2012 - they have become very scarce in Notts in the last few years. This was quickly followed by 6 fly-over Tree Sparrows - another PWC addition for 2014; sometimes PWC ticks are like buses. 

The gulls themselves were disappointing, with few big gulls, and of those, there were just 2 Yellow-legs (an adult and a 1cy). 

Stonechat